Cirque du Sombre
by LovelyLuvbi
Summary: Cirque du Sombre is home to many ghouls. Luna, one of the younger ghouls, refuses to eat and nobody knows why. None of the other ghouls understand how she could actually care about human life. Humans hunt and kill ghouls for fun because they think they are monsters who deserve to die; most ghouls only do what they need to do to survive. So... Who are the real monsters here?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi all. This is just a short story (somewhat based off of my longer story already on here) I had to write for my English class, I got pretty good feedback on it so I decided I'd post it. I got a 99 on it, and for her class that's extremely good. So yeah, now that I don't really have motivation to write I'm going to try to upload shit I've already written, which is actually quite a bit. I've started many new stories, and two of them have chapters that are upload ready, I'm just not sure I want to post them yet. I dunno why, I'm kinda weird lol:p Anyway, yeah. There's gonna be about like 5 chapters on this, plus an explanation (since it was for class I had to have one, and it's pretty much a bunch of bullshit lol). I'll upload a chapter every one or two days! So yeah, I hope you enjoy it! It's not too long, it's not even over 10,000 words! Also, Luna and Lumina are my OC's, their personalities and stuff are on my profile if you were curious. They are going to be in my newer stories as well. Yeah, so that's about it. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Chapter 1**

"I hope you're all having a wonderful time!" The ringleader of Cirque du Sombre, Mr. Man, yelled to the crowd, who applauded in response. "Fantastic! We have one last act for you! Please put your hands together for Len, Luna, and Lumina; the phantom trio," he said eerily as he stepped off of his platform and the lights dimmed so low that nobody in the audience could see a thing. Mr. Man patted them each on the shoulder and nodded, "You know what you must do." They nodded and went to take their positions. Len entered first, taking his place in the center of the stage, Luna and Lumina entered from opposite sides; Luna was on his left, and Lumina on his right. The spotlights came on, shining a small beam of light on each of them, their hands hidden behind their backs. The crowd gasped in awe, for the three of them were mysteriously enticing: Len, his golden blond hair peeked out from the hood of his grey cloak and his piercing icy blue eyes scanned the crowd, his chiseled features and mysterious smirk nearly made the girls in the crowd drool; Luna in her black cloak, and her long midnight blue, almost black, hair hid most of her face, only revealing the right side, with her sapphire blue eye staring at the crowd intently and her sly grin growing bigger, she almost looked insane; and Lumina in her white cloak, her pale blue, almost white, hair covered half of her face as well, but her hood was so far over her head that the crowd could only see her menacing grin.

Len pulled out a flute and began playing a slow melody, after a few beats Luna joined in with her pan flute, and then Lumina joined in with her violin. Slowly, the crowd began to grow still, not one of them making a sound; the only sound coming from the tent was the music the phantom trio played. The crowd was completely silent and still, and Luna glanced over at Mr. Man, telling him the crowd was ready. He nodded and disappeared into the darkness; one by one, other members of the circus began moving through the crowd to pick who they thought was best. Once they heard no more shuffling from their family, Len glanced at his two partners and nodded. Lumina eased her way out of the song, followed by Luna, and then Len. The crowd snapped out of their trance after a few seconds and burst out in applause. The trio took their bows and left the stage as Mr. Man came back on. "Thank you ladies and gentlemen! You've been a great crowd! Enjoy the rest of your night, and…" he scanned the crowd, an eerie grin on his face, "Remember to tell your friends." He took a bow and the crowd applauded once more before gathering their things and making their way out of the circus theater. Mr. Man went in the back to find his crew chatting and fooling around, "You all did excellent tonight, especially you three," he winked at the trio, they all grinned from ear to ear and blushed; it was always nice to be complimented by the ringleader.

"So when can we… eat?" Gakupo, or Gaku for short, asked Mr. Man as he licked his lips. Gaku was able to control puppets, and everything else, with his mind; he was a ghoul from the Eastern part of Cirque, where such a thing was viewed as demonic. However, in Northern Cirque, nobody believed in magic or sorcery like that and thought everything the circus members did were just illusions and silly tricks. Gaku's pale blue eyes were wide, growing hungrier by the minute; he did not want to wait any longer.

Al, the demon fighter, nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I'm starving. Do you know how long it's been since I've eaten!?" he groaned and slammed his back against the wall, making a loud thud; it hurt the wall more than it did Al. Demon fighters are a rough bunch of ghouls, not much of anything can hurt them except demons and more powerful ghouls. Many people believed ghouls and demons were the same thing, but they are not; ghouls are living beings that resemble humans but are biologically and mentally different, while demons are spirits from the underworld who want to harm anyone they come by. He ran his hands through his dark brown hair and looked eagerly over at Mr. Man with his vibrant yellow eyes; he wanted food, and he wanted it now.

Mr. Man sighed, he didn't want them to eat quite yet; he wanted to wait until they discussed the plans for the next week, "Can we at least talk for a moment first. I know how we all get when we're hungry, but I also know how we get when we start eating. You both know it's better to wait," he smirked, Al and Gakupo exchanged glances and then looked back at Mr. Man impatiently. "Excellent. Well, as you all know we are beginning to run low on potential food because our show is becoming boring to the audience. I think it's time we branch out and look for new recruits again. Does that sound good to everyone?" They all nodded quickly, wanting to go downstairs and eat, but Mr. Man continued talking, "Phantom trio, you will stay here with Ben and I. Al and Gakupo will go together…"

"Naturally," Gakupo smirked and nudged Al. The two men had been best friends since they were boys; Gakupo ran away from home four years after his father turned up dead, which was when he finally grew tired of his mother's abusive behavior. He and Al ran into each other as they were chasing their prey in the woods, which was good for the humans since the ghouls were distracted, but bad for them at the same time because Al and Gakupo ganged up on them once they were finished laughing. Eighteen years had passed, and they were still as close as ever, if not closer. Al ruffled up Gakupo's long, purple hair and smiled, he loved his best friend and he always would, no matter what.

Mr. Man looked at the two of them and smiled; it was nice to see ghouls who should hate each other get along. Demon fighters and puppeteers never usually got along because they were so equal in strength and could never seem to surpass one another, but Al and Gakupo didn't care about who was more powerful; they just cared about the circus and how they were the strongest two there. "You six may go while I split the rest up into teams," he shooed Ben, Al, Gakupo, and the trio off downstairs.

 **That's it for this one. It was weird writing such short chapters because I'm used to writing longer stuff! Well, I hope you liked it! Follow/Favorite and review if you'd like! Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Luna and Lumina were the only girls in the circus because female ghouls were rare after the territory battles; most of the females either starved to death, or were killed by other ghouls. Thankfully Cirque du Sombre was overlooked in the battle, probably because it was seen as a weak hideout that wasn't worth anyone's time. "So twins," Al looked at Luna and Lumina, who looked back at him with curious eyes, "Gaku picked you out a good one this time."

They crossed their arms and sighed in unison, "Al!" They looked at each other and laughed a little, they hated doing that. Luna continued speaking, "I do not eat living humans, and I will _not_ become a killer!" Luna was not like most other ghouls, she didn't kill human beings; instead she went and found dead ones wherever she could. Also unlike most normal ghouls, she actually has to eat at least once a week rather than once a month because she feeds on the dead. Eating multiple times a month wasn't uncommon for the members of the circus though, they had a show on the weekends and they gathered people every night. The circus members choose their prey wisely, they often take the loners or the lower class people that they believe no one will miss, so that way there's no suspicion of ghoul activity. They sometimes resort to entire families if they find one person in particular that they like and they're with their family; if they only took the one, there'd be hunters and police all over the circus because the family wouldn't let that go unnoticed.

Al shook his head angrily, he didn't understand how a ghoul could be so stubborn that they would endanger their own life. "Why are you so against this? Do you want to live? Why can't you just eat one that someone else kills for you?" He was worried about Luna, she was looking paler than usual, and it was often very dangerous if she got too hungry; she controlled it to the best of her ability, but it was very painful to fight the hunger. Luna was a weaker ghoul because she fed off of already dead humans, meaning their flesh and blood was deader and older and it didn't give her the strength she needed, and Al couldn't fathom the fact that she actually _cared_ for human life. Humans didn't value the life of ghouls, they hunted and killed ghouls no matter what kind they were. If Luna was ever found out by a hunter, they would kill her on the spot, and she hadn't harmed anyone a day in her life. Even if she was found out by a run of the mill human, they would be terrified of her and would attempt to harm her as well. Ghouls are evil in the eyes of humans, and humans are evil in the eyes of ghouls; there were few exceptions to these mindsets.

Luna avoided eye contact with him, she knew he was only trying to protect her, but she couldn't let herself take life… not after what happened. She couldn't think about that right now, anytime she did all she wanted to do was throw up. Lumina tried to comfort her, but it was too late; she was already angry. Luna stormed off away from everyone and into her room, locking all three locks behind her. She tore her cloak off, and fell onto her bed, trying to stop the tears from coming out. _You can't give in,_ she silently screamed to herself, _Fight it._ She buried her head in her pillows to muffle her screams from all the pain. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she was grasping the sheets for dear life; she _couldn't_ lose control. There was a light knock at the door, momentarily snapping her back into her senses, but then the pain and suffering came back and she let out a shrill scream. The door was rammed down and Len tackled Luna to stop her from going insane, "Luna!" he yelled and pulled his cloak and shirt off, putting his shoulder near her mouth, " _Eat_." Humans weren't the only thing ghouls could feed on; they could feed on other ghouls too, and luckily they healed rather quickly, especially if they ate afterwards to regain strength. Luna couldn't control herself any longer, her eyes grew wide and she sank her teeth into him. Len bit his lip to keep himself from shouting as she tore off his flesh, blood was running down his arm and Luna's face; he'd never seen her feed before, it was weird for him to see her act like… an actual ghoul. He let her feed until he began to feel weak, he pushed her off of him and backed away from her, out of breath. Len had forgotten what being bitten had felt like, it hadn't happened since he had left his previous team. Apparently Luna was still hungry, because she rushed towards him, trying to get another bite, "Luna, I can't lose any more blood or I'll pass out!" he shouted as he dodged her attack, trying to make her snap her back into her old self, but she didn't listen. _I don't want to hurt you Luna, but I will if I have to…_ he glared at her, that hungry look still in her eyes: they were wide, and the pupils were barely visible, just those empty, lifeless sapphire blue orbs staring at him like she was insane. As she came towards him, he knew there was no other option, he punched her as hard as he could with his good arm, knocking her out cold. Unfortunately, that punch took what little energy he had left and he fell backwards into the wall, breathing heavily as he held his arm.

 **Thanks for reading:)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Gakupo walked in to find Luna knocked unconscious against the, now dented, wall, with blood running down the sides of her mouth and in various other places on her body. He hated seeing her like that, Luna was far too innocent to be hurt as if she were a monster like him. He saw Len lying on the opposite side of the room, he was pretty roughed up. He noticed the blood running down his arm, and the wound that was bleeding profusely on his shoulder and near his neck, _He actually let her feed on him?_ He thought to himself in amazement, he knew Len loved her, he just didn't think he loved her _that_ much. Gakupo walked over and picked up Len, putting him over his shoulder, "You're a good guy," he said softly and took Len to the feeding room so he could eat and regain his strength.

Lumina took one look at Len and she knew what happened, "Luna lost control and attacked him?" she asked softly, not quite sure that she wanted to hear the answer. She hated that her sister was so stubborn, but she promised to support her no matter what; she didn't understand how a ghoul could care so much about the lives of humans that they would endure all that pain. And for what? The people who sought out to kill them for no reason? Lumina hated humans; ghouls were only doing what they had to do to survive, well, most of them were.

Gakupo shook his head, "No, he told her to. She was in a great deal of pain, Lumina dear. You don't know what it's like to feel the pain of starvation, and how hard it is to control her ghoul instincts to feed on flesh and blood." He sat Len down next to one of the bodies and his eyes shot open upon the smell of it, he sank his teeth deep into the man; the flesh tore easily and blood splattered all over him, but he didn't care. He continued eating until the entire torso of the man was reduced to nothing but bones. His pupils went back to their normal size and he looked around, slightly confused; last time he checked, he was with Luna. Gakupo smiled and started wrapping Len's shoulder, "She got you good, man. It should only take about three hours or so for that to heal now that you've eaten." He patted him on the back and stood up to tend to Luna's injuries. She was still unconscious in the same spot, _Damn, Len must have hit her hard…_ The majority of her body and clothes were covered in blood. He shook his head in disbelief as he knelt down beside her, just seeing Luna in such an injured and monster-like state was hard for him. Gakupo sighed and lifted her shirt up to check for broken bones, as he expected, some of Luna's ribs were broken from hitting the wall so hard. This wouldn't have been a big deal for any other ghoul, but with Luna everything was different; she was always so weak from lack of food that recovering often took much longer than usual.

Len, unintentionally, snuck up beside Gakupo, who was too busy focusing on Luna's injuries to notice. "Maybe she'll recover quicker since she ate?" Gakupo jumped back, startled by Len's sudden appearance, and tripped over Luna's foot; he nearly took Len down with him and both men almost ended up crushing her, but they managed to catch themselves. Well, more like Gakupo caught himself, and then managed to keep Len from falling by using his ability to control things with his mind. "S-Sorry," Len mumbled and tried to move, but was still stuck in Gakupo's control; he would have said something, but Gakupo wasn't paying any attention to him again.

He murmured to himself and knelt down in front of Luna, contemplating how he would tend to her injuries. "Do you know why she's like this?" Gakupo wanted to understand why Luna was so against eating the humans they gathered.

"Because I made her eat?" Len wasn't quite sure what Gakupo was asking, so he guessed and answered accordingly. "Can you let me go?" he grumbled, usually he was able to at least move a little, and sometimes he was able to completely break free from Gakupo's control, but he was so weak that he could barely open his mouth to speak. Gakupo glanced over at him and nodded, allowing Len to have control of his body. Since he was still feeling so weak, he leaned on the wall to help him stay upright.

Gakupo looked over at him and raised an eyebrow, "I meant do you know why she doesn't eat the humans we gather?" Len bit his lip and looked away. "Len, tell me." He wanted to tell Gaku, he truly did, but Luna made him promise not to tell; she didn't trust anyone else to know. Len simply shook his head and kept his mouth shut. "I know you know. Are you really going to make me resort to asking Mr. Man?"

Len's eyes widened, he didn't understand why so many people wanted to know why Luna was so different from them; it was her business, not theirs. "You wouldn't…" he glared at him. Mr. Man was the oldest ghoul the members of the circus knew of, thus making him the wisest; he had the appearance of a man in his early thirties, but he was actually much older than that. Ghouls aged a lot like humans, only much slower; they tended to keep their youthfulness for much longer than humans. Mr. Man was able to hear the thoughts of both humans and ghouls, which made it hard for anyone to keep secrets from him if they were within the walls of the circus. While he wasn't normally a blabber mouth, Len knew he favored Gaku because he was one of the first ghouls to join the circus, thus meaning Mr. Man would be more likely to tell him anything he wanted to know. "Come on, Gaku. If she wanted you to know she would tell you."

Gakupo sighed, while he desperately wanted to know, it wasn't worth losing both Luna and Len's trust. "Why? Is it really that bad? I mean, Luna's so innocent. What could she have done that was so bad?"

He thought for a moment, and then looked into Gakupo's eyes, a scarily serious look on his face. "You have to _promise_ not to tell."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Gakupo nodded and Len continued, "Luna wandered off alone one stormy night when she was younger." He wasn't sure of her exact age because she refused to tell anyone. One time he had asked her and she got really upset and threw him out of her room; he didn't understand why she was so secretive, but he respected her and never pushed it further. "I don't remember what she was doing out alone, all I know is that she must have been a very dumb child, because who in their right mind wanders off alone in a storm? Night vision or no, I still wouldn't have done it." Ghouls were able to see in the dark, their eyes were almost like a cat's would be. "Anyway, she came across a hiker in his thirties and a teenage boy lost in the woods. They seemed very exhausted, so she began thinking of ways she could kill them for her family."

Gakupo's eyes widened and his jaw dropped slightly, " _Kill_ them!?" He never thought Luna could be a killer, she'd never shown any signs of being like a normal ghoul at all.

Len nodded and continued, "However, she made a very big mistake: she went up and talked to them, acting like she was lost as well. The hiker took her in without hesitation, and they began trying to find their way back to the trail. The man was very worn out, but he was determined to get Luna and the other boy home safely, so he never gave up. Luna and the man began talking to each other quite a bit, and she was actually starting to enjoy his company; she didn't know why her parents had made her think they were so evil." He paused and took a deep breath, he didn't want to go on; it was the part that made him question everything he lived for. "Unfortunately, Luna was very wrong by assuming the teenage boy was the man's son; he turned out to be just like Luna, and had been leading the hiker every which way to exhaust him before she arrived. When they stopped to rest it was really dark, windy, and slightly raining; thankfully the man had a lantern so they could see. The boy patiently waited while Luna and the hiker talked about their interests and other random things like that; like he was doing them a favor by letting them enjoy their last minutes of life." He sighed and looked down at Luna's almost lifeless body; she looked hurt, but at the same time she looked content, almost as if she was telling him it was alright to tell Gaku everything. "The hiker noticed the boy's odd behavior and…" he took another breath, "Just as the boy pounced at Luna, the hiker threw himself in front of her and took the hit for her. Luna cried and screamed for the boy to stop as he tore into the man's flesh, but he didn't listen. Finally, Luna had had enough; she lost control at the smell of the man's blood and attacked with all of her power. Only she didn't attack the man, she attacked the ghoul, and ended up killing, and then eating him and—"

Gakupo cut him off, "She killed him all by herself!?" He looked at Luna and smiled in awe, she was just full of surprises.

Len nodded, "Yeah, it surprised me too. Anyway," he continued, "the hiker was badly wounded, but Luna was too scared to go near him now that he knew she was a ghoul." Len smiled down at Luna, she had always been such a sweetheart, even back when she was more ghoul-like. Of course he hadn't known her at that point in time, but everything she had told him about her past still made her seem so innocent. "Much to her surprise, the hiker looked up at her and smiled warmly; she told me that it was weird because she'd been told that humans were these heartless creatures that never smiled and hated ghouls. Yet, he was _smiling_ at her. He said, 'Come here child, don't be afraid.' Though she was hesitant at first, she did as she was told and knelt down beside him. He spoke again, 'Would it surprise you if I told you I knew you were a ghoul the whole time?' After he said that, Luna was completely shocked; the hiker knew she was a ghoul, yet he was so pleasant and kind to her. She didn't understand why her parents had always said such awful things about humans, so she decided she'd show them not all humans were bad. Another crucial mistake on her part…" Len said softly as he sat down next to Luna. "Luna was able to carry him as she ran as fast as she could to her house. She brought him inside and her parents instantly assumed he was food, but Luna quickly pulled the, now unconscious, hiker away from them. 'He isn't food,' she told them, 'He is my friend; he saved me from another ghoul, even though he knew I was one.' Her parents laughed, they really thought she was joking. She tried to explain that not all humans were bad, but they wouldn't listen to her; her mother told her she was stupid for saying that, and that she didn't know anything about the human world. 'Death is inevitable for humans, and this one's time has come.' Her mother said as her father attempted to take the man from Luna's arms, but Luna refused to let go. When her mother wouldn't stop yelling at her, she ran back into the forest; neither one of her parents even tried to chase after her because they didn't care about her."

Gakupo shook his head in disgust, those types of ghouls were the real monsters that gave everyone else a bad name. He knew those types of ghouls often lacked the emotions and affection most others had for their children and other family members, or really any other living thing. "I never knew her parents were like that…"

Len nodded, "Unfortunately they were, and Lumina would have turned out to be just like them if Luna hadn't taken her away from them after that day."

"So what happened after she took him away from her parents?" Gakupo asked curiously; this was the most he'd heard about Luna since she'd joined the circus, needless to say he was very intrigued by her story.

"Well, she took him back to their resting area and waited for him to wake up. He did wake up eventually, and though he was still weak from the blood loss, he managed to sit up and talk normally. Luna said she learned a lot about humans, and how most of them were still terrified of ghouls; in turn, she told him that ghouls actually feared humans and that they were the monsters in the eyes of ghouls. The hiker laughed at this, he thought it was funny how corrupt both sides were. He laid back and looked at the sky, and Luna had a bad feeling in her gut. He asked for her name and she told him, 'Well, Luna,' he said with a small smile on his face, 'I'm glad I finally met a ghoul who didn't want to kill me.' Come to find out, he was actually an ex-hunter, which scared Luna; she'd heard many evil things about hunters. She told me that he noticed her sudden change in behavior and he laughed again and then said, 'Don't worry, child. I don't wish to harm you, but there are others who do. More ghouls are coming, they can smell the blood coming from my wounds; you must leave me.' Luna refused though, and she told him that she'd fight them off to protect him like he had protected her. The man was just as stubborn as Luna, though." He smiled to himself, he could only imagine how hard they must have butted heads over that. Luna was the most stubborn ghoul he knew, and _she_ was the one who caved. "Luna finally listened when she smelled the other ghouls growing closer, but before she could go the hiker grabbed her hand and smiled," Len figured the hiker must've been a very happy person, because Luna said he almost always had a smile on his face. "He looked into her eyes and spoke softly, 'Go to Cirque du Sombre, my dear. It's in Northern Cirque. You'll be safe there.' Apparently both of them were crying; I think Luna said it was because they finally met someone different from the stereotypes that were placed on humans and ghouls. Then he let go of her hand and said, 'Thank you for being different, and may God have mercy on our souls.' Luna stared at him because she didn't understand what he meant by that. He didn't have a lot of time to explain, but he tried, 'I have killed many ghouls; you have killed many humans. Murder is one of the worst sins to commit, and I can only pray that God will at least give you a chance. You were only doing what was necessary to survive, while I was killing because I thought it was right. I was very, very wrong, Luna. I am willing to answer to God for my sins, and I can only hope that you will learn from my mistakes.'" Len wasn't quite sure how he knew all of what he'd been saying; he didn't really remember Luna telling him all of the details to that extent. Suddenly, Mr. Man's voice filled his head, _It's because I'm putting all of this knowledge in your head. I figured that if Gaku was going to know the story, he was going to know the most accurate version. Luna is fine with you telling him, in fact, she specifically thought to me that she wanted the story to be as close to the truth as possible._ Len blinked a few times; Mr. Man had never done that before and he was slightly confused. He then looked over at Gaku and continued speaking, letting the words flow out as Mr. Man wanted them to. "Luna asked him what he meant, because she'd always been told she was immortal and would never have to answer to God for anything. The hiker laughed at that, 'You ghouls certainly are a naïve bunch. Trust me Luna, one day we _all_ will answer. For you it may be much, much later, but it will happen. Please, don't be a monster like I was. Don't kill any more people, Luna. That's all I ask of you, because you aren't like all the other ghouls; you're special. You, my dear, are the most extraordinary person I have ever met.' He looked up at her and noticed all the tears falling from her eyes, and she finally spoke after falling to her knees, 'I don't want to be a monster! I don't want to kill anyone! I never have, but mama and papa made me,' she cried loudly. The hiker sat up with what little strength he had left and hugged her, 'I know, Luna,' he whispered softly into her ear, 'You don't have to be a monster like me, or your so-called parents. Just be who _you_ want to be…' Luna nodded and hugged him with all she had, and then darted off before the other ghouls could spot her. The hiker laid there, smiling and praying as he awaited his death. Luna didn't want to watch, but it was too late; she turned to see him one last time, and the ghouls were already there and devouring the man, who was yelling, 'Be a good girl, my dear child. You are not the monster they say you are. Go on, child. You are loved—' There was blood everywhere, and all of the ghouls feeding on him were tearing him apart. Luna almost threw up watching them: his organs were being thrown around and fought over, his blood was staining the ghouls' clothes, and nothing about what was happening seemed right at all. She couldn't help it anymore; she threw up and started bawling, 'That man did _not_ deserve to die. Especially at the hands of those awful ghouls,' she kept whispering that to herself…" Len didn't know why, but he had tears coming out of his eyes; this was definitely not the version Luna had told him because this one was a lot sadder. "And those were his last words. After that Luna vowed to never eat a live human, nor kill one, ever again. After watching the hiker die at the hands of her own kind, she despised them all; even her own twin sister, and especially herself. After that, Luna and Lumina traveled to Cirque du Sombre together and left their parents behind without a word. The journey was long and tiring, but Luna felt she had no other option; she had to obey the hiker's last wish for her. They ran into me on the way there," he smiled, just thinking back to that day made him feel happier than ever, "Luna and I connected right away," he grabbed her hand and looked over at her, "She told me I reminded her of someone she knew; to this day she's never told me who…" Mr. Man's voice filled his head once more, _Are you really that clueless? Len, you have to promise to keep calm, but that was your father who died that day._ "B-But…" _Shut up! Say nothing in front of Gaku!_ Len didn't know what to do or think; what in the hell did that mean for him!?

 **CRAZY. This was so much fun to write! I hope you like it so far, just one more chapter left!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Luna was all taken care of and in bed by the time Lumina came to check on her. Luna and Lumina had a strange relationship in the eyes of most of the other ghouls: they didn't talk to each other much at all; they didn't seem to like each other half or the time; they were always trying to find ways to avoid each other; yet, they stuck up for each other and supported each other's decisions. Lumina sat down on Luna's bed and just stared at her chest as it slowly went up and down; she'd always had an obsession with breathing, especially with making it stop. Just the thought of killing made Lumina hunger for it even more, so much so that she was about to attack her sister. "Lumina!" came Mr. Man's stern voice from the doorway. Lumina snapped out of her daze and looked behind her. "If you keep this behavior up I will have to ask you to leave the circus. You know the rules," he growled. It wasn't that he didn't like Lumina, it was just that he liked Luna way more. Luna wasn't the one putting the circus in jeopardy by sneaking out and killing off entire families.

"Yeah, yeah." She rolled her eyes, "No killing members within the circus; no going out alone; no killing outside the circus walls." She stood up and walked towards him, "I wasn't going to kill her… I was just going to rough her up a bit. After all she's done to me, she deserves it."

Mr. Man tapped into Lumina's thoughts and he was beyond disturbed by what he heard: _I hate Luna. She took me away from the only people that cared for me. And as if that wasn't bad enough, now she's ill because of her stupidity. I'm so glad I told those ghouls about that man she had with her in the woods. He was filling her head with lies. That stupid guy ruined Luna's life, which essentially ruined mine as well. He made her think she wasn't a monster, and she_ is _a monster. All ghouls are monsters, and we might as well embrace it because we have absolutely nothing to lose. Oh look, it's raining… brings back good memories._ He heard her laughing; it sounded demonic and very unlike her. After that she went out of his hearing range, which meant she was outside the circus walls. He looked over at Luna, looking into her thoughts as well: _I don't want to be a monster. I wish those humans could see what they were doing to ghouls; maybe then they'd stop. I hate humans; I hate ghouls; I hate everything. I'm_ not _a monster. I'm_ not _a killer. All the ghouls think I'm a disgrace because they think I value human lives. No. I valued_ one _human's life, and his life ended… because of me. It's all my fault. It's my fault Len's dad is dead. It's my fault Len had no option but to run to the circus. He would hate me if he knew the truth… Is that rain? Oh no, God no… Dear God, if you truly do exist, please make it stop raining; there is nothing I want more than that. Too many painful memories. Make it stop, God, please._ She was begging it to stop, and when it didn't, Luna's mind went crazy; the death of the hiker played over and over again in her head. Mr. Man couldn't handle seeing and hearing such things from Luna, he knew she was in pain, but that was nothing he could help with. He then overheard Len's thoughts: _Rain… it was a night just like tonight when father died. Father… I'm only half a ghoul? What does that even mean? Mr. Man, what does that mean!?_ He walked across the hall into Len's room and found Len curled up in a ball in the corner of her bed, "Len," he sighed, "It's time we talk about your father."

"Like how he was human?" Len asked bitterly, he couldn't believe his father was human that whole time. He really couldn't believe he couldn't tell the difference, surely he would have been able to smell the difference.

Mr. Man sat down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "He was an expert hunter Len; he knew how to hide his human scent from you."

"How was I even born? I thought such a thing was impossible…" When ghouls and humans tried to reproduce it very rarely ended in success.

"You were a very rare case, indeed." Mr. Man nodded, he, too, often wondered how Len managed to survive. "Your mother died during childbirth didn't she?" Len nodded slowly; he didn't like where this was headed, "She gave her life so you could live, son. That's the only logical explanation." After really thinking about it, that really was the only way Len could have survived; his mother sacrificed herself for him. Len shook his head angrily, he didn't understand why she would do that. He didn't _want_ to live as a ghoul; it was pure torture. Mr. Man laughed, "Torture? My dear boy, this is far from torture."

Len smirked, if being hated by everyone wasn't torture then what was? "So what makes me different from any other ghoul?"

Mr. Man thought for a moment, "Well, I think you still have that human mentality where it's not just all about you all the time. You let Luna _feed_ off of you, and I don't know a ghoul in their right mind who would allow that. You still have the ability to think rationally when you're hungry. I guess you just still have some human characteristics as well as your ghoul traits."

He furrowed his eyebrows, "Do you think there are more like me?" He didn't know for sure, but he knew someone who was the same way, if not worse.

Mr. Man knew what he was getting at and sighed, "If you're referring to Luna, then yes. Do you know why she won't tell you her age? Because she doesn't know it. When she was a baby she was abandoned because her mother died during childbirth, just like yours. The twin story happened so that she would think she belonged in the family, and the two of them looked rather similar so it worked well. Neither one of them knows this, so please keep quiet about it." Len nodded, but wondered how Mr. Man knew all of this if Luna didn't even know it. Mr. Man knew what Len was thinking and simply smiled in response, and then continued speaking, "Your father knew she was special because he could tell she was only half… I don't know why he gave his life for her, though." Mr. Man would have found a way for them both to live if he could have, but unfortunately he couldn't control that.

"Who knows with him?" Len smirked, "And what's it matter if we're full ghoul or half ghoul? I mean, we're constantly being hunted down because we're all seen as monsters; it's just hard to tell who is what because we're all so similar looking." He paused and thought for a moment, and then smiled at Mr. Man, "I guess that's the good thing about looking human; no one can tell the difference between the humans and the ghouls. And honestly, I don't think there even _is_ much of a difference between us at all. We are _all_ monsters."

 **Well, I hope this was enjoyable! Thanks for reading! xxLovelyLuvbi**


	6. Explanation

**Explanation**

 **Because this was a short story written for class I had to write an explanation behind the story. We had to use certain texts we'd read in class so I just used some of the same literary concepts but tried to make it a lot different in terms of plot and character etc. So, this is it. I hope you enjoyed it.**

I went with Anne Rice's novel as my inspiration of this story. I felt like it had a much more modern feel to it, just as Rice's novel did. While it did mainly follow Rice's novel as inspiration, I also looked to Mary Shelley's _Frankenstein_ as well. I used some foreshadowing to hint that something had happened to Luna involving humans in the past which is why she can't kill them. Luna is physically and mentally suffering because she refuses to eat how she's supposed to, and no one understands her. That's a lot like Victor, and how no one can really understand what he's going through because he can't tell them; Luna can't tell them because she believes the other ghouls won't understand either way, so she keeps it to herself. It is then later revealed, but through Len; that inspiration came from Rice's novel. Louis tells the whole story, but there is so much more than just his story, he's telling other peoples' stories too. In this, Len pretty much tells the whole story, even though it is in third person. The reason I did it in third person was so the reader could know what everyone was thinking, rather than just the narrator, because I feel like the thoughts of every character are important and contribute to their development and the progression of the story. I used the dark and rainy setting because that's what every horror novel needs, stormy weather to put a damper on the mood. That rainy weather then came back at the end, making the phantom trio all think back to that same day, but in very different ways. That day and weather all has a different effect on them, because they all had different attitudes toward it. Just like in both novels, the weather is a key factor in what the mood is and what will happen next.

I believe this fits in with the gothic novel because of the use of conventions like foreshadowing and the setting, but also because there's a message in it. The meaning behind this story is that there are monsters everywhere, and they can blend in so well that we can't tell the difference between good and evil. In addition to that, the end paragraph kind of sums that meaning up; we are all monsters, though we keep it hidden. Which is true; I believe everyone is a monster in some way. In the story, ghouls are killing humans and humans are killing ghouls and the cycle doesn't end; both sides are monsters because both sides are killing for their own somewhat selfish motives. Whether it's just thinking evil or bad things, or acting upon them; humans are monsters too, really, we may be the worst kind of monster. Humans judge, bully, and are cruel in general to other humans. The monster figure is almost exactly like a human other than the fact that they age slower and eat flesh and blood; other than that, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Luna is supposed to be innocent and sweet because she won't kill anyone, and won't eat in front of others, but we later see that when she loses control, she's just like every other ghoul. As a child, when she was supposed to be innocent and sweet, she was actually the murderer she was "supposed" to be in her teenage years. Lumina is a killer, and she always has been; she hates her sister because she took her away from that life with their parents. We see Lumina is actually not such a great person when she's thinking, and we find out that _she's_ the one who caused the hiker to be murdered. Another common theme in gothic novels, revenge. Lumina has wanted revenge on Luna ever since she took her away from her parents; Lumina told the ghouls about the hiker and Luna because Lumina didn't like Luna's way of thinking that humans aren't evil. We see Lumina wanting revenge when she almost attacked Luna while she was already hurt. Len is kind of that in between monster, he does it because he has to, but he still cares for others, like Luna, and will put himself on the line to help others. And then we find out he's half ghoul and half human, which really only allows him to keep the same human mentality. Which then leads to the fact that Luna is the exact same way, though has a little more human mentality than Len. All in all, they're all monsters being hunted because of what they are and not who they are. And the humans hunting them are killing them because they think it's their right to do so, they don't care what kind of ghoul, they just continue hating and hunting and seeking revenge on every single ghoul for no real reason really. That's a common trend with humans, we do things because we think it's our right to do it, even when in some cases we really have no place to do certain things at all.


End file.
